John McLucas has died.

I liked this little palindromic bit from the bio:

During World War II, he served in the Navy in the Pacific. Afterward he would describe his wartime work as involving “a project so secret that it had to be spelled backwards.” When pressed on what exactly this was, he confided that it was something called “radar.”

I didn’t know him well, but he was one of the good guys, and was very supportive of space enterprise. My condolences to his friends and family.